The King Also Brought His Kingdom

I would think the main reason any Christian would list for the purpose of Christ's first visit would be to seek and save the lost. This is clearly supported by Jesus according to John 3:16.

However, there were two other goals during His life-mission - (1) to destroy the works of the devil (1 Jn. 3:8) and (2) proclaim the good news of His kingdom (Matt. 4:23). 

I hear many sermons and teachings on Salvation and the victory we have through Christ over the devil. But in addition to the securing of our eternal destination and triumph over the enemy of our souls -  Kingdom living is what we do in the meantime and He brought a better lifestyle from Heaven to live. Christ came as The King to bring His Kingdom.

Some things that I think comprise a kingdom are - the king, servants, citizens, royalty, rules, relationships, lifestyles, economy and a military as a good start.

Allow me to take you through a paraphrased history of God's kingdom. Before any kingdom or created thing there was just God (John 1:1). Then after the creation of angels and passing of eons with them as Heaven's population, the fall of Lucifer (Isa. 14:3-20) took a third of the angelic host from God's kingdom (Rev. 12:4). 

Sometime later, in God's grand design and timing, God created humankind in His image. Now the kingdom consisted of a perfect earth, a perfect, harmonious relationship between mankind (man and woman) and God, an unfallen angelic host and fallen angelic beings.

The rebellious angel, Lucifer, known by many now as Satan, tempted Eve in the form of a created creature - the serpent. Not only did humanity's relationship with God suffer and fall but all of creation was injected with the curse of rebellion with decay and death as its trophy or end result.

Enter the first major kingdom re-set, the Abrahamic Covenant. This was an agreement totally dependent upon God as Abraham walked out his faith in Yahweh to be the father of many nations. This was the first step by God in securing a people unto Himself.

The next major kingdom re-set was not necessarily a re-set so much as it was a further development and enhancement upon the Abrahamic Covenant. The Law of Moses that God delivered to Moses on Mt. Sinai was the written governing infrastructure for the then kingdom of God. These hundreds of laws in essence were meant to stress that the totality of The Law could not be kept by anybody except the promised God-man, The Messiah.

When Jesus of Nazareth came on the scene hundreds of years after The Law was established, Jesus brought The New Testament or New Covenant founded through Him. 

To prove His point in the most profound way, Jesus not only practiced what He preached but He also fulfilled every letter of The Law, the previous Mosaic Covenant, so that freedom to accept and live His kingdom way was possible.

Through the teachings of Jesus, His sacrificial death and victorious resurrection and later the teachings of His apostles, believers and disciples become royal family members who are guided by relationships and lifestyle mandates that identify them as kingdom members.

Some of those Scriptural passages that teach the Christian kingdom living while we wait for our King are as follows.

In Matthew chapters 5, 6 and 7 you can read in red letters the words of Christ about a variety of topics concerning kingdom living. The Be-Attitudes were a strong beginning to His sermon, but they were not all He had to teach. Read it.

James 3:1-12 speaks to the need for a rein over our speech. There is not a day that goes by that I do not observe the dire need to guard our words. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to be our filter.

Speaking of the Holy Spirit, living life through the Holy Spirit is spelled out by Paul in Romans 8. Read it.

A life of faith in action is seen by the many witnesses of it in Hebrews 11. We receive the definition of faith in this chapter and then later in James 2:14-25 believers are admonished to not just be a talker but be a doer - let your actions support your faith.

Finally, daily consume the fruits of the spirit. Among some of the fruits documented in Galatians 5:13-16 are love, joy and peace. Some say we are what we eat. But many have proven the influences that input us, output us whether positive or negative. Why not make those daily influences Godly? Make a point to be loveable, joyful, peaceful and so forth whether anybody else is or not.

These are not all the handles, these are not all the Scriptural passages that instruct on kingdom behavior, but it is a good start. Remember King Jesus came and He saved, King Jesus came and destroyed the works of Satan, but The King Also Brought His Kingdom.